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REPRINT OF AN ORATION 

DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE 

SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 
IN NEW JERSEY 

BY 

MAJOR PETER KEAN, OF URSINO, N. J. 
July 4, 1823, 



In December, 1915, the pamphlet reprinted on the following 
pages was found among the papers of the late Major Peter 
Kean, of Ursine, which is now in the possession of his 
grandson, Julian H. Kean, Esq. 



1916 



ro 



ORATION, 

DEIilVEEED IN 
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN ELIZA.BETH-TOWN, N. J. 

BY THE REQUEST OP A COMMITTEE OP THE HONOURABLK 
CINCINNATI SOCIETY OF NEW-JEESEY, 

BEFORE 

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOli, THE HON. 
CINCINNATI SOCIETY, 

THE INHABITANTS OF THE BOROUGH OF ELIZABETH, 
AND OF THE TOWNSHIP OF UNION, 

JULY 4, 1823. 



[PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS OF ELIZ.TO\TN.] 



BY PETER KEAM, ESQ. 



" That your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual— that the free 

Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained — that 
the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be 
made complete by so careful a preservation, and so prudent a use of this blessing, 
as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection 
and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it." 

Washington' s Farewell Address to the Peoph of the U. S. 



ELIZABETH-TO WJf: 

PRINTED BY J. AND E. SANDERSON. 
1823. 



At a meeting of the Society of the Gincimiati of the State of Neio- 
Jersey, held at Elizabeth-Town, July 4th, 1823 — Present, Gen. 
JOSEPH BLOOMFIELD, President, and twenty-five Mem- 
bers. 

Resolved, unanimously. That the thanks of this Society be 
given to Major Peter Kean, for the very eloquent and truly patri- 
otic Oration publicly delivered by him this day, in presence of a 
very large and respectable assembly of the public authorities, citi- 
zens and military of this borough and its vicinity, convened on an 
occasion so deeply interesting to the whole American peo^ile. 

Resolved, That the very] pathetic and affecting eulogium be- 
stowed by him in his address upon the surviving members, and in 
an especial manner upon our departed brethren of the Cincinnati, 
be held in most grateful remembrance by the Society, and that our 
just sense thereof be manifested by the entry of these resolutions 
upon oiir journals, and by requesting the President to cause a copy 
thereof, under his signature, to be addressed or delivered to Maj. 
Kean by the Secretary, accompanied with a request that he would 
furnish a copy of the same to be deposited in the archives of the 
Society. 

A true copy from the minutes, 

JOSEPH BLOOMFIELD, President. 

-«oJ»C<x>- 

JuLY 4th, 1823. 

SlE, 

Be pleased in my behalf to express to the Honourable Society of 
Cincinnati, the high sense I entertain of the honour they have 
done me in their resolutions of this day. 



( 4 ) 

However unworthy the Speech I had the honour of pronouncing 
before them, of the encomiums the Society's indulgence has been 
pleased to bestow upon it, and of the distinguished place they have 
assigned it, I cannot refuse any request made by a body whose 
claims to resiject, confidence and obedience are so transcendant. 
With sentiments of the greatest resiaect and veneration, 
I have the honour to be, Sir, 

your and the Society's 

very humble servant, 

PETER KEAN. 
To Major General 

The Hon. J. BiiOOMFiEiiD, 

Pres't of the Hon, Society of Cincinnati. 



ORATION. 



-<K>J*Co 



Gentlemen of the Cincinnati, 
AND Fellow Citizens ! 

If it be wise in other nations to commemorate great 
events by public rejoicings, we need no apology for this 
meeting. They celebrate victories and the birth of prin- 
ces ; we, the triumphs of a people and the birth of a 
nation. 

Millions, who this day forty-seven years were not in 
being, are now assembled to offer up fervent thanksgiv- 
ings for unprecedented blessings. Our best feelings 
prompt us to unite in this tribute of gratitude and praise 
to that Omnipotent Being who has " vouchsafed to guide, 
govern, and direct us, and to cause all things to work 
together for our good." 

To you. Gentlemen of the Cincinnati, to your broth- 
ers in arms, and to your and our common political father, 
next to God, is our gratitude most justly due. In be- 
half of my fellow citizens I tender you their thanks, for 
the zeal, patience, perseverance, gallantry and heroic 
resolution with which you commenced, prosecuted, and 
terminated the contest. 

Nor are we unmindful of the trials to which you were 
subjected at the close of the war. Wasted fortunes ; 
ruined hopes; impaired constitutions; "ingratitude, 
marble- hearted fiend." " You asked for bread and they 
gave you a stone " — yet you were true to your country 



( 6 ) 

Treason, assuming the garb of friendship and the lan- 
guage of sympathy, assailed your passions with an abili- 
ty second only to that of an " archangel fallen :" there 
was a voice which said to the troubled waves, " peace, 
be still," and they were calm. The spot the tempter 
intended to render memorable by your disgrace, was hal- 
lowed by the formation of an institution " calculated to 
inculcate to the latest ages, the duty of laying down in 
peace, arms assumed for public defence." " Had the 
trials of March, '83, been wanting, (I use the words of 
Washington,) the world had never seen the last stage of 
perfection to which human nature is capable of attain- 
uig. 

Gentlemen, on an occasion like this, yours must be 
no common emotions. With passions and feelings mel- 
lowed by age, with minds fraught with the lessons of 
experience, you stand on the verge of time, a connecting 
link between your departed brothers and the rising gen- 
eration. While on each anniversary, you look with sat- 
isfaction to the past, and with pleasing anticipation to the 
future, you are equally called to drop a tear to the memo- 
ry of companions who yearly precede you to the tomb. 
" The good that men do lives after them ;" the tribute 
paid to departed worth, is an assurance, that yours will 
be remembered. 

Gentlemen ! your country greets you with a fervent 
prayer, that, the splendour of your setting sun may be 
as refulgent, as its rise was glorious ; that, the gratitude 
of America, and the consolations of religion, may cheer 
your latest hours, and that, your sons may be worthy of 
you. 

Fellow Citizens ! 

The causes that led to the revolution, the victories that 
crowned our arms, all crowd on the memory. Can words 



( 7 ) 

add force to the statement of the first made in the decla 
ration of ''jd} What but an inspired tongue can increase 
the vivid recollections of the last that glow in every bo 
som ? Need we apologize, then, for not dwelling on 
subjects so deeply engraven on our hearts, that an at- 
tempt to illustrate would, like an effort to explain the 
axioms of science, only render the intuitive perceptions 
of the mind less distinct? Let us rather attend to their 
consequences, and endeavour to lay " deep and broad " 
the foundations of republican principles. 

At the end of the war, these United States entered 
upon " a new and untried state of being." The confed- 
eration was soon found inadequate ; state interest and 
state pride militated with the general good ; visionaries 
were not wanting, who believed, or, who affected to be- 
lieve, that freedom might be maintained without a govern- 
ment ; private and pubHc bankruptcy palsied every effort 
for the attainment of competency ; insurrection and sedi- 
tion were busy ; the enemies of freedom smiled, and pre- 
saged her ruin; her most sanguine friends were oppres- 
sed ; the boldest doubted ; a gloom diffused itself over 
the well affected. A paternal voice called on them to rouse 
from their despondency and save their country — it was 
the voice of Washington! who could refuse obedience? 
— The Constitution was adopted. 

That it was admirably calculated to effect the ends in- 
tended, is proved by the increased and increasing intelli- 
gence, wealth, power and happiness of the republic. 

Our institutions are founded on the virtue and good 
sense of the people — the only legitimate source of pow- 
er. How is the source to be kept pure ? It would be 
worse than Utopian for a Christian people, accustomed to 
consult that Book in which the springs of human action 
are laid open by " Him who knovveth what is in the heart 



( 8 ) 

of man," not to feel a firm conviction, that they must 
keep a vigilant guard over their own passions, and use 
every mean to repress and control inclinations that might 
lead to ruin. A sincere lover of freedom will never for- 
get, that there is but one step from the excess of liberty 
to the gloom of despotism, and that that step must be 
through anarchy and crime. How, then, is the source to 
be kept pure? Happily, our own history answers the 
question. It teaches us that the source is to be kept 
pure, that Government is to be kept in perennial vigour, 
by the diffusion of moral and religious instruction ; by 
encouraging industry, in all its various branches; by 
giving a firm support to the authority of magistrates, and 
yielding a willing obedience to law ; by a temperate dis 
cussion of public measures ; by a frequent recurrence to 
first principles, and their judicious adaptation to the exi- 
gencies of the moment ; thus gradually moulding our 
institutions to conform to that perfection in the moral 
and physical condition of man, to which the march of 
mind is in a state of slow but sure approximation. 

As citizens of New-Jersey, peculiar duties devolve 
upon us. All history proves, that, in federate govern- 
ments, the smaller members are constantl}' in danger, 
from the power and ambition of the larger states. It 
would be sinning against experience to believe that we 
are to be exempted from dangers that have proved de- 
structive to others. The union then is the only palla- 
dium of our state rights, and it is both our duty and our 
interest to strengthen the hands of the general govern- 
ment in the exercise of its constitutional powers. To 
this end, our representatives in congress should be men 
capable of making up by their abilities and statesmanlike 
views, what they want in numbers; men fitted to com- 
mand the respect and confidence of the union, in order 



( 9 ) 

to give a due preponderance to a state, which, although 
small, deservedly claims, from its internal resources, its 
revolutionary services, the virtue of its people and its 
tried patriotism, great weight in our national councils. 

Nor should we be unmindful of our state affairs. 
Situated between the two great marts of commerce and 
manufactures, possessing a territory rich in mineral 
treasures, and not unfitted for great agricultural improve- 
ments, watered by rivers and streams that afford abun- 
dant facilities to commercial intercourse and the increase 
of manufactures, we should be wanting to ourselves were 
we to disregard these bounties of providence. 

Above all, let us not neglect the rising generation. 
To your maternal care, my countrywomen, New- 
Jersey intrusts her future hopes. If you love virtue, if 
you desire praise, if you would deserve the gratitude of 
your children, cultivate their minds. Teach them, early 
to tread in the paths of virtue. Let the volume of inspi 
ration be the guide of their youthful ways, and it will be 
the light of their manhood. Point them to the life of 
Washington, and teach them to love and venerate his 
virtues. Bid them practice " whatsoever things are 
true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are 
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are 
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be 
any virtue, and if there be any praise, teach them to think 
on these things,"* and their after lives will be your re- 
ward. 

Fellow citizens! Opportunities of performing distin- 
guished services are of rare occurrence ; they are afforded 
by periods of difficulty and danger, that call for the ex- 
ertion of great powers ; but we all have the ability to ren- 
der essential benefits, and our conduct will be the more 

* Phillippians iv. 8. 

2 



( 10 ) 

meritorious, as it will meet no reward but that which 
proceeds from a consciousness of duty performed. Your 
sons are daily migrating ; their usefulness and respecta- 
bility in the new states depend upon their education and 
on the examples of virtue your lives afford them. Surely 
you will not count it an unacceptable service, to have 
aided in the advancement of civilization and the spread 
of Christianity ; or reflect with other than pleasurable 
emotions, on having contributed to the diffusion of hap- 
piness. 

The reputation of a state and consequently its weight 
in the union, depends upon its civilization; that is, upon 
the progress it has made and is making, in wealth, refine- 
ment and moral worth. By a fixed law of our nature, 
these are inseparable from and have a direct effect on po- 
litical institutions. In Europe, the accumulation of com- 
mercial capital and the improvements of science are 
opening the Vvay for civil liberty. In America, free in- 
stitutions and the extension of education have given an 
impetus to industry and laid the foundation of national 
greatness. The source of our prosperity is the more 
pure, its effects have consequently been more immediate. 
No country can remain stationary ; its condition must 
improve, or, it will go back. By what powerful mo- 
tives then, are we impelled to exertion! To what scorn 
would we not be justly liable, were we to relax ! With 
what ingratitude would we not be chargeable, were we to 
refuse to our children, advantages conferred on us by 
our fathers! 

May it please your Excellency ! called to preside over 
a state, capable of high destinies, we look with confidence 
to the exertion of your best talents. This confidence is 
strengthened by a recollection of your past administra- 
tion. Persevere sir, in the liberal policy that has mark- 



( 11 ) 

ed your course; give force and consistency by your le- 
gal learning, to our highest court of judicature; hus- 
band the means set apart for common schools; encourage 
well organized schemes for the advancement of the arts ; 
unite your name with plans of internal improvement, cal- 
culated to develope the resources, stimulate the industry 
and augment the wealth of your native state, and the 
gratitude of her sons, while it assigns you no undistin- 
guished place among your worthy predecessors, will re- 
ward your labours. 

The effects of the revolution are not confined to this 
country. The spectacle of a youthful people successful- 
ly grasping with a great nation attracted attention and 
gave a powerful impulse to the friends of liberal princi- 
ples in Europe. Unfortunately for humanitv, the cause 
was disgraced by the excesses of its first advocates and a 
re-action was produced. A bold effort was made to wed 
the Genius of Freedom with Infidelity and Crime ; she 
shrank from the contaminating impurity of the base alli- 
ance and fled. America was her place of refuge ; the 
good sense of the American people has preserved her un- 
sullied. Here she found a resting place, where to renew 
her strength for another and a more vigorous fiight. She 
has ascended, and while with untired wing and undaz- 
zled gaze she hovers in mid air, ready to dispense her 
blessings on Greece, once her favourite abode, and o'er 
the civilized nations of Europe, no less fitted for her 
dwelling place, who can be an uninterested spectator of 
her towering soar ? 

Connected with Europe by commercial relations, a 
common ancestry and a common literature; anxious, 
from the convictions of reason and experience, for the 
extension of constitutional freedom, we deeply sympathize 
with the liberal party. 



( 12 ) 

At the restoration of the Bourbons it was hoped, that, 
the governments of Europe would learn wisdom from ex- 
perience, yield to the spirit of the age and lead the way 
in reform ; that they would adapt the administration of 
affairs to the altered condition of the people, and hasten to 
remove the vestiges of feudal institutions that time and 
civilization had gradually undermined. It was emphati- 
cally called, "the era of good feeling," and the friends 
of humanity longed for its perpetuation. Alas! the 
feelings have subsided and nothing but professions re- 
main. 

The Holy Alliance I I shudder while I pronounce 
the name. What ! a combination to retard the progress 
of civilization ; to benumb and freeze the energies of the 
human intellect; to revive antiquated and exploded su- 
perstitions; to replunge mankind into the more than 
midnight darkness of the barbarous ages; to arrest the 
wonder working hand of the Almighty, in its adaptation 
of human means to the fulfilment of prophecy ; underta- 
ken and sworn to in the name in which a Triune God has 
vouchsafed to reveal his mercies to man, and the earth 
born worms who have thus dared to profane that name, 
are spared ! Yes they are spared ! but only spared to be 
rendered memorable examples to future generations, and 
by their signal defeat more assuredly to accelerate the ad- 
vent of that period, when the human race shall be fitted 
for the happiness of the latter times. 

The indignation due to their enormity is equalled on- 
ly, by the contempt their imbecility merits. The page 
of history was open to them, the follies of the house of 
Stuart were there traced in indelible characters; the glo- 
rious revolution of ItiSS was blazoned, with no com- 
mon splendour ; yet, they would not read. The hun- 
dred days compelled Louis 18th to confess his erroursand 



( 13 ) 

to grant the charter to France. Temporary tranquillity 
has re-produced a blind security ; men incapable of 
learning the lessons of wisdom, although taught in the 
school of adversity, again surround his throne and direct 
his councils. The property, the talent, the people of 
France have again and again evinced their attachment to 
civil freedom, yet, her emigrant nobles and her king 
wage war on Spanish independence. 

Not a rivulet, not a fastness in Spain, but tells of tri- 
umphs over invading Frenchmen ; not a true hearted 
Spaniard but is ready to shed his blood for his country's 
honour ; and yet, a " Son of France " (degenerate scion 
of a noble stem) leads an army beyond its resources, 
into the heart of Spain, unappalled by the difficulties of 
the route, by the retreat of the king to Seville, by the pre- 
concerted abandonment of the country, by the solemn 
and death like stillness that surrounds his march, giving 
"dreadful note" of the coming storm. Yes, the storm 
will burst, the dark and midnight cloud that o'ershadows 
him will be livid with lightnings and pour out its tor- 
rents of desolation. Spain will arise in her might, and 
hurl the invaders back. From the days of Charlemagne 
to the days of Napoleon, when was Spain ever invaded 
with impunity ? The contest will not be confined to her 
limits ; it will be as dreadful, as its consequences will be 
important. All former efforts will sink into insignifi- 
cancy, when compared with this shock of embattled 
millions — all future wars lose their interest in the recol- 
lections of this mighty conflict; but the result will be 
glorious. Success is insured by the developement of 
moral causes that no physical force can elude or counter- 
act. 

What though the moral elements of Europe be in 
a state of tempestuous commotion! what though the 



( li ) 

fountains of the great deep be broken up! the hand that 
can stay them is raised ; the spirit that will breathe on 
the face of the waters is ready ; the ark of safety is 
moored, and the dove will return with an offering of 
peace. France must and will be ruled by a constitu- 
tional king; Europe must and will be free. 

Americans! Citizens of a free and independent re- 
public ! Descendants of the soldiers of the revolution ! 
You are this day called, by the wisdom of your institu- 
tions ; by the rising greatness of your country; by the 
blood of your fathers; by the silvered locks and honour- 
able scars of the venerable men who grace this assembly ; 
by recollections of recent victories both by land and sea ; 
by the loveliness and purity of your wives and daugh- 
ters ; by the interests of your sons ; by the interests of 
the whole human family; by every religious and every 
moral tie, to fan the sacred flame that is kindled, and by 
the purity of your lives and devotion to your country, 
to add new brilliancy to the light that cheers the friends 
of civil liberty. Will you listen to the call? or, will 
you by supineness and indifference hazard its extinction, 
jeopard your own liberties and the world's, and give cause 
of triumph to the Genius of Despotism, to whose malig 
nant hate your follies would afford an eternal theme for 
bitter scorn and derision? I pause not for a reply. The 
spirit of your fathers burns within you, and Freedom has 
marked you for her own. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

I i III! J|l|lll||l nil III! I|l||iiiii;iiiiiiii 11111,11 



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